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Paint It Black

Lazy, hot Sunday afternoon. Kids and wife are out of the house. Local boy Joe Walsh turned up pretty loud on the surround sound system. Ok, really loud.

So loud that I just noticed my dog Buddy left the room. Other than barking fits, Buddy is a “party- favorites-Jimmy-Buffet” kind of music lover. In my eyes, these are his only two faults.

I’m pretty sure he rolled his eyes at me as he passed by. I could tell (yet again) that he was on the verge of speech, likely about to say, “I ask for Margaritaville and you give me Life’s Been Good? Pathetic!”

I’m realizing I haven’t blogged in quite some time. Several of my new blogosphere friends (who have been doing this longer than I) seem to have taken the summer off. Perhaps subconsciously I have been doing the same? I just went through a few weeks where everything mechanical in my life stopped working, so that’s my excuse.

I have completed my full discography collection of all Rush albums adding Moving Pictures, Hemispheres and the new one Snakes And Arrows last week. I found 1 ticket on Ebay in the 4th row and am eager to see them here in Cleveland at the end of August. It will be my fourth time.

Most classic rock fans know Tom Sawyer and New World Man pretty well, but have never heard what I think is one of Rush’s best albums: Presto. Several years beyond their “heyday”, I fell in love with this disc in 1990 and have fond memories of listening to it in my old Honda Accord back in Springfield, Missouri.

I gave it a spin last week and was reminded again how really good it is. Presto includes a song called War Paint that, at least for me, is a great song about the masks we wear. I think it’s also about us becoming so full of ourselves that we can’t see clearly.

All puffed up with vanity
We see what we want to see
To the beautiful and the wise
The mirror always lies

Boys and girls together
Mistake conceit for pride
Ambition for illusion
Dreams for self-delusion

Girls and boys together
See what it is we lack
Boys and girls together
Let’s paint the mirror black

Paint it black

I like the idea of painting the mirror black, dropping the mask, and being real with others. Easier said than done of course.

8 comments on “Paint It Black”

Way back when, on the etcetera podcast, we talked about how difficult it is to find an environment where we can be our “un-edited selves” and how church, ideally, should be that place. More realistically, there should be smaller communities within the larger body where that kind of transparency can take place.

Problem is, when you do manage to achieve that, everyone NOT in your particular circle starts bitching about how clique-ish this church is. You just can’t win, so you may as well just be yourself and let the chips fall where they will. The people who love you are going to love you, and the rest, well, all you can do is smile at them.

I agree completely. I’ve been convinced for a very long time that you’re never going to get to truly know people playing the small talk game in the halls of church or ailes at Wal-Mart. The way to at least try to get to know people and reach that transparency level is having them into your home or vice versa. Crazy family schedules really screw that up don’t they? That’s what was so great about college days.

Games people play, you take it or you leave it
Things that they say, just dont make it right
If Im telling you the truth right now, do you believe it?

Life goes in stages. Early in life you desperately want everyone to like you and fit in so you put on more of a show. As I’ve aged, I’ve put on less of a show simply for the reason that I don’t care as much if people like me or not. Here I am, like me for who I am if you so desire. Of course this isn’t necessarily true in the halls of HCC, there’s more of a facade there.

I was a big Rush fan at one point, although I haven’t listened to them in years
and I don’t think I spent much time with the Presto album(cd). I’ll give it a shot.

I have been in a flurry of concerts lately though. I went to Faith Hill/Tim McGraw last week, pretty much for the sole reason that my wife wanted to go though. She’s turned on me from a rocker to almost exclusively country. Tomorrow is Nickelback and I’m really psyched about that one. Saturday will be Kenny Chesney, which is definitely my favorite country singer, even though I’m not much of a country fan. He reminds me quite a bit of Jimmy Buffet.

That’s the real shame of it, Doug. People have forced themselves to become content with this once-a-week-for-an-hour skeletal compromise of community, and then wonder why church is so different from the old days. Being away from church for over two years has really forced me to get intentional with my relationships, else I’d have no time for friends at all.

Relationship is the key to living out the gospel. That’s why it’s in our nature to hold each other at arm’s length.

Dorsey, that is very thought provoking. When you say it’s our nature do you mean it’s a part of our sinful nature and that sinful nature keeps us separated from one another? Where can I hear some of these podcasts….archive?

It’s not just that our sinful nature keeps us separated. It’s that our self-ish predisposition tends to default to a posture of insularity. A lot of people blame the devil. I don’t need his help. It’s already my bent to do the opposite of whatever is proper.